The first batch of nearly 980,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines provided by Chinese drugmaker China National Biotech Group through COVAX departed for Pakistan in the early hours of Aug 9, the company said.

These doses were packaged on the evening of Aug 6 at a Beijing unit of CNBG, a subsidiary of State-owned Sinopharm, and were shipped to cold storage at an airport on Aug 7, awaiting security checks and customs clearance.

"As the first batch of our COVID-19 vaccines under COVAX has been shipped, the company is gradually delivering its promise on providing vaccines to COVAX," the company said in a statement released on Aug 8.

COVAX is an international program that aims to distribute vaccines to low- and middle-income countries.

The COVID-19 vaccine developed by CNBG's unit in Beijing gained emergency use authorization from the World Health Organization - a prerequisite for supplying to COVAX - on May 7, and the first batch allocated for COVAX rolled off the production line on June 1.

On July 7, CNBG's Beijing unit signed an agreement with Gavi, one of the leaders of COVAX, pledging more than 170 million doses to the program.

The company said after its second manufacturing line obtains approval from the WHO, it will provide the line's annual capacity of 1 billion doses to COVAX.